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3-20-1981

McPartland Jazz Trio Gives UD Arts SeriesPerformance

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The University if Dayton McPARTLAND JAZZ TRIO GIVES un ARTS SERIES PERFORMANCE

DAYTON, Ohio, March 20, 1981

News Release CONTACT: Patricia Schumann PHONE: 229-3241

Marian McPartland, jazz pianist,

composer, teacher, and author, will perform with her jazz trio at the University

of Dayton Tuesday, March 31. The concert at 8:15 p.m. in the Kennedy Union Ballroom

will also feature Steve La Spina on bass and Charles Braughan on drums.

McPartland's visit is sponsored by the University of Dayton Arts Series,

with the support of the Ohio Arts Council. For ticket information call 229-2347,

McPartland has been a leading figure in the jazz world since the 1950's,

when she established herself at the Hickory House on 52nd Street in New York, her

home base until the mid-60's. A native of England, McPartland studied at the Guildhall

School of Music in London. She was headed for a career in classical music, but

her love of jazz led her to abandon that career to tour vaudeville theatres with a

four-piano act. While touring with the USO during World War II she met and married

American cornetist Jimmy McPartland. and came to this country after the war.

Today McPartland is active in a number of endeavors ~esides her frequent

club and concert engagements. She has her own radio ShOT,.l, "A Delicate Balance,"

carried by National Public Radio and aired by WYSO, en which she interviews and per-

forms with invited guests.

McPartland is also currently working on a book about women jazz musicians.

"Sure there were a good many women jazz musicians -- Mary Lou Williams, Cleo Brown,

Hazel Scott, Louis Armstrong's wife Lil. Unfortunately a lot of men felt that no

chick could play jazz, but these women were so convincing. so strong, that they

transcended the idea of the woman musician on all terms."

HcPartland's own contribution to jazz has been substantial, In addition to

her radio show, she runs her own recording company, Halcyon, to further promote modern DEPARTMENT OF UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

300 College Park Dayton, Ohio 45469 (513) 229-3241

McPartland Jazz Trio Page 2

jazz stylings. She also actively promotes jazz through her workshops and seminars

given in schools and colleges allover the country. "I try to make them listen,"

she said. "Very few of us ever learn how."

Lately, McPartland has taken a new direction with her music. She has begun

performing in pops concerts with symphony orchestras across the country. "Except

for George Shearing," she said, "I don't think there's another jazz pianist who

plays a "real" concerto in those circumstances. I've been doing the Grieg (Concerto

in A minor); although it's an old war horse, people love it."

For Tuesday's concert, McPartland will play several of her original

compositions, as well as music by Coltrane, Chick Corea, Hancock, Porter, and Mandell.

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